Last season’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund climbed off the foot of the table by beating Hoffenheim 1-0 on Friday, their second victory in 11 Bundesliga games.
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Ilkay Guendogan scored with a diving header from a fine cross by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the 17th minute, allowing the players and fans to breathe a collective sigh of relief after an awful start to the season.
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Dortmund, champions in 2011 and 2012, rise four places to 14th and are on 14 points following their fourth league win of the season.
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There was more good news for the club as fit-again central defender Mats Hummels returned to first-team action, meaning the back line from their 2013 Champions League final defeat was reunited for the first time since.
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Lukasz Piszczek, Neven Subotic and Marcel Schmelzer have all suffered injuries at some point in the past two seasons and the quartet had not started the same game for 72 matches.
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Dortmund, playing far more aggressively, twice had the ball in the net but both times Aubameyang was ruled offside, and the hosts also missed several more scoring opportunities.
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Leaders Bayern Munich, who are seven points clear, host third-placed Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
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